Xiaomi Announce The Mi4: Another High-end Flagship

Nine months ago Xiaomi released the Mi3 and over 10 million sales of it later they have announced the successor, the Mi4. While yet to make a significant mark outside of China, Xiaomi signalled their intentions earlier this year when they expanded to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, selling devices as fast as they put them up available for purchase. At one stage they sold 100,000 Mi3’s in 86 seconds. This is in addition to their move in hiring Hugo Barra of Google fame to be Vice President of International.

So far in 2014 Xiaomi have sold over 26 million phones so they are far from being a small company. A lot is expected with their 2014 flagship and it seems they have not disappointed when it comes to the specifications. The Mi4 is exactly what we have come to expect from the upper end of Chinese manufacturers, high end specs at a relatively low end price. The specs for the Mi4 are:

2.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

3GB RAM

16 or 64GB Flash memory

5in 1080p IPS display

13MP Rear camera

8MP Front facing camera

139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm, 149gm

3080,Ah battery with quick charging technology

UMTS, TDD-LTE, and FDD-LTE support

Approx. $320US (16GB) and $400US (64GB)

Optional: approx. US$ 16 screen & water accident insurance

Stainless steel frame

Swappable back plate

MIUI6

Xiaomi have made a point showing the process that goes into the manufacture of the device, including the stylish design and the stainless steel frame. It seems they have missed nothing off the list when it comes to the wish list of enthusiasts like us. Joining the manufacturers offering customisation Xiaomi are also offering swappable back covers in wooden and stone finishes.

At the same time Xiaomi also announced a stylish looking fitband. Not an Android Wear smart watch but more along the lines of a Fitbit-style fitband. The fitband does all the standard things expected of a fitband as well as being able to unlock your phone. It looks like a great addition to the Mi4 and at a price of under $13US (yes, that’s not a typo) it’s a no-brainer as far as I am concerned.

Personally I will be watching these two devices very closely. The presence of capacitive buttons dulls the excitement slightly but hopefully it will be possible to switch them off within the OS. The Mi4 will be running MIUI6 so it won’t be exactly stock Android but MIUI is extremely customisable and themeable so it you can make it look how you want it to. No word on it’s release yet but is expected to be in Q3 of this year. Around August 16 when MIUI6 drops is a fair date to expect it to arrive. It is also unknown as to whether they plan to branch out to other countries so if you want one a grey market importer like Mobicity may be your best bet.

Anyone else interested in this phone? It certainly is a good looking device but let’s face it, in the past their devices have been less then spectacular. In recent times they have been hitting the ball out of the park a lot with the Mi3, the Mx3, the Oppo Find 7 to name a few but is it enough to tempt you to trust a Chinese brand?

Scott Plowman Associate Editor

Scott is our modding guru - he has his finger on the pulse of all things ‘moddable’, pointing us towards all the cutting edge mods hacks that are available. When he’s not gymming it up, or scanning the heck out of Nexus devices, you'll find him on the Ausdroid Podcast.

Outside of Ausdroid, Scott's a health care professional and lecturer at a well known Victorian university.

My basic data loadout is currently at 30Gb, Damien. A collection of media files and docs. I have to use 64Gb microSD cards to store it.
So for my use, I do actually need microSD support even on a 64Gb device.
And before you suggest that I use ‘The Cloud’ for mobile data storage and retrieval, the data costs on pre-paid make using ‘The Cloud’ an unworkable proposition.